Justice League Dark Animated Movie Coming Soon?

Long before the release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, director Guillermo Del Toro has been teasing a potential big screen adaptation of Justice League Dark. For now, the live action DC Comics movie slate is more than full at Warner Bros., but there may be hope for a Justice League Dark movie still. Some new information points to Warner Bros. looking at doing an animated version of the film following Batman: The Killing Joke.

ComicBook.com has discovered that The British Board of Film Classifications has listed the bonus features that will be included on the Blu-ray release animated feature adaptaion of Batman: The Killing Joke. Among those special features is a bit of content labeled as "A Sneak Peak at Justice League Dark." This would seem to heavily imply that the animation side of Warner Bros. is already in development on the project.

According to the uncovered information about the Justice League Dark bonus feature, the segment is said to be just under eight minutes long, which would further imply that the studio has a bit more to show than just a potential announcement for the project. Granted, this is far from a confirmation, but it would make a lot of sense. As of last year, it seemed like the live action version of Justice League Dark was all but scrapped when Guillermo Del Toro left the project in favor of Pacific Rim 2, which he also ultimately decided not to direct. According to an interview with The Daily Beast about the film, it was pretty much good to go when Del Toro decided to exit the project.

"Warners liked the script, they were very enthusiastic and wanted to green-light it but they wanted it to coincide with the shoot of Pacific Rim 2 I was put in a very difficult place facing a difficult choice, and I chose to do Pacific Rim 2."

For those that may not know, Justice League Dark first appeared as a title in DC Comics in 2011 and featured mostly supernatural characters like John Constantine, Deadman, Swamp Thing and Zatanna. The team essentially took on missions that the regular Justice League wasn't fit for and a lot of the storytelling centered on supernatural and occult elements. Given Del Toro's sensibilities and track record, it makes total sense that he wanted to do the project and that Warner Bros. wanted him to do it, but they have both very clearly moved on.

Luckily for fans who wanted to see Justice League Dark, it is starting to look like the animated feature will provide some comfort. In all honesty, it could wind up being the best thing for the property, as the animated side of Warner Bros. has always been very well regarded and as of right now, the live action side of things is a bit more shaky. We will have to wait and see if these rumors are true, though as Batman: The Killing Joke will be debuting at San Diego Comic Con with a VOD release of the film coming on July 23 and the Blu-ray following shortly after on August 2.